In a class of $8$, there are $5$ students who forgot their lunch. If the teacher chooses $2$ students, what is the probability that both of them forgot their lunch?
Solution: We can think about this problem as the probability of $2$ events happening. The first event is the teacher choosing one student who forgot his lunch. The second event is the teacher choosing another student who forgot his lunch, given that the teacher already chose someone who forgot his lunch. The probabilty that the teacher will choose someone who forgot his lunch is the number of students who forgot their lunch divided by the total number of students: $\dfrac{5} {8}$ Once the teacher's chosen one student, there are only $7$ left. There's also one fewer student who forgot his lunch, since the teacher isn't going to pick the same student twice. So, the probability that the teacher picks a second student who also forgot his lunch is $\dfrac{4} {7}$ So, the probability of the teacher picking $2$ students such that both of them forgot their lunch is $\dfrac{5}{8}\cdot\dfrac{4}{7} = \dfrac{5}{14}$